Welcome to the Revolution
by VictorWalsh
Summary: Tron: Uprising Season 2, Episode 1 A female program with a mysterious past comes to the aid of Tron and Beck. But can she be trusted? Meanwhile, Beck faces a tough choice when Mara steps in to help.
1. Prologue

Prologue

Lights shimmered, colors blending.

Sounds muffled and echoed, drowned out by the sound of the pounding in his head.

He struggled to keep his eyes open, to identify the shapes that seemed to swim in slow motion in front of his eyes. His own thoughts faded in and out of focus.

A cold weight seemed to bear down on his chest and he became aware of his shallow breathing. He looked down and saw large blue gashes standing out against the white glow of his suit, wisps of code curling upwards in a smoke-like haze. His light disk lay on the floor off to his right; holding his breath he tried to summon his arm to reach for it. Everything faded to black.

A groan brought him back to his senses. Opening his eyes, he tried to peer beyond the orange glow of the scattered cubes that surrounded him, searching for the sound. He'd derezzed programs tonight. That wasn't his way, but the waves of guards kept coming until he'd had no choice. Those that stayed down had been spared, but those that got up….

Had he gotten them all?

He heard the crunch of cubes and saw a dark streak in his vision, rising up from the ground. The piercing bright flash of an orange disk caused his stomach to sink. The dark figure moved closer. He felt defeated.

The thud made him startle, his eyes shooting open. He must have blacked out again. This time the figure was much closer...but….

His vision blurred. Light bounced off her pale blonde hair as she glided towards him. She didn't look like one of Clu's guards. She looked almost angelic. His eyelids became heavy. Maybe she was, he thought.

He felt her breath on his face and slowly opened his eyes again. She was knelt by him now, her head almost level with his, but somehow he couldn't seem to capture her whole face, just snapshots as he drifted in and out of consciousness: her golden hair brushing against her collarbone, her cheeks, her eyelashes, her eyes fixed on his chest. Darkness again.

Muddled noises. He forced his eyelids open and focused on her mouth, her lips moving in slow motion, almost rhythmically… hypnotizing. The sounds of her voice bounced around his head, echoing, swirling. He felt so tired. If he could just sleep a little…

He felt a jolt of pain through his body as she shook him. And suddenly, with the sharpness of the pain, everything came clearly into focus, her voice speeding up to normal– the blur lifting.

"Tron! Tron!"

"Get Up!"


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Beck was about to round the corner when he heard the clatter of footsteps heading his way and flattened himself against the wall as the guards ran past the opening, oblivious to his presence. He peered around after them.

"Guess I'm not getting out that way, " he muttered to himself.

The intruder alarm continued to blare out loudly above his head, alerting everyone to his trespass. Standard lockdown procedures dictated that Tesler's security forces converge on the exits of the base, so he doubled back towards the control room in the belly of the ship. The guards were still out cold on the floor, just as he had left them, the access panel dangling open above them. Without hesitation, he deftly leapt up onto a control console and vaulted up into the opening. Perhaps, if he could find his way through the air ducts and make it to the flight deck, he could find another way out, he thought.

The dim red glow made the confines of the ducts seem all the more stifling as he crawled uncomfortably through them, trying to recall the blueprints of the base. A couple of wrong turns later, he finally found himself peering down over rows of lightcopters. The flight deck gate was closed, but he imagined that a few missiles from one of the choppers would rectify that. Reaching in his pocket, he checked for the data cube he had recently retrieved, then pulled out his recoder. The section was clear and he stealthily dropped down to the ground then slid into the cockpit, quickly accessing and overriding the controls. The lightcopter's propellers whirred slowly and noisily into life.

"Hurry up!" Beck yelled at the machine, anxious to get airborne.

The disturbance didn't go unnoticed. A door slid open and guards began pouring through, out onto the deck and racing towards him, disks drawn. Beck looked frantically about the cockpit, knowing they'd be on him before the chopper had generated enough lift to get him out of there. His eyes fell upon a parachute pack and, thinking quickly, he grabbed it and used it to jam the control stick into position. The lightcopter lurched forwards as he sprinted out of the cockpit, keeping the chopper between him and the guards.

He had barely cleared the pad when the loud screeching caused him to turn back and he watched the lightcopter, nose pointing down, drag across the deck, before flipping spectacularly and crashing into the gate. Bright flashes of light and cubes pierced the air as Beck leaned back and covered his face with his arm, feeling the ship shake with the explosion.

A blast of heat shot right through him and he wobbled as he fought to steady himself against the wave of energy that thundered by, leaving a muffled fog in its wake. The smoke cleared to reveal a gaping hole in the gate; his escape route. Now he only needed to get past the group of black guards who, previously stunned by the spectacle unfolding before them, were advancing towards him. He backed up slightly and froze as he bumped against someone.

"What? You didn't think the assignment was challenging enough without waking up all the guards?" growled a voice behind him.

Beck breathed out a sigh of relief. "Hey, I got to the guard before he raised the alarm…just…" His voice trailed off a little, "…of all the places his head could have hit on the way down, it had to be the alarm." He glanced back to witness Tron rolling his eyes.

"Did you get the data cube?"

Beck patted his pocket. "And you?"

Tron nodded and turned towards the guards, his helmet raising and enveloping his head. "With my cube we should be able to access the list of suspected revolutionists the occupation has been drawing up. With the backup data cube you retrieved, we just ensured that the enemy no longer can. Now we just need to get them both safely out of here."

Grabbing their light disks, they charged the group of guards, kicking and knocking them aside. Beck pulled out his baton and leapt forward into the air, light lines spreading out underneath and drawing around him. He hit the ground on his bike, the tires squealing against the deck, and spun around to speed out of the hole in the gate. Tron was quick to follow suit.

The cool, crisp night air hit them as they drove down the ramp, stopping briefly at the bottom to assess the response of Tesler's army. The damaged gate was creaking open and they could see at least a dozen or so guards begin their pursuit, by light jet and light cycle.

"We're going to have to split up and meet back at the hideout," Tron barked out. "Here, " he added, tossing Beck his data cube. "Give me the disk - I'll draw the guards away so you can get the list somewhere safe."

Beck obediently unclipped his disk and separated out Tron's half, black voxels rippling across his suit. With a final nod he turned and sped off to the Outlands, leaving Tron to set off in the opposite direction toward the outskirts of Argon city, using his bright white suit to lead the guards away. At least in Argon the buildings would give him some cover to help evade the guards on the ground while forcing the guards on the light jets to land. Though traffic would be light at this time of the night, Tron didn't want to risk innocent programs getting caught up in the chase; he steered his bike towards the docks where there would be few around this close to curfew.

At first he worried the guards had not taken his bait. The whine of his lightbike echoed through the empty streets as the buildings and containers blurred by. His fears were quickly dispelled when a pair of lightjets whooshed past above him, arcing up into the dark skies. Beyond the rumble of their engines he could discern the thrum of several bikes closing around him. The chase had begun.

Tron pressed himself deeper into the seat of his bike and focused on navigating the streets ahead. He'd run through scenarios like this countless times in his simulations, but it had been a long time since he had the chance to put his training into practice out on the streets. A jolt of exhilaration coursed through him; a reminder of cycles, long past, in the service of Flynn. He relaxed and let his programming take over.

In his peripheral vision he saw a black guard pulling up beside him. Tron bided his time, drawing him along as they weaved together through the narrow circuitways of the city's outskirts. The guard remained persistent in his pursuit, and despite Tron's skillful manoeuvring, he was unable to shake him off. When the guard inched closer and unclipped his disk he leaned to turn left, then quickly switched to the right, slamming his bike into the guard. The guard's lightcycle wobbled precariously and the driver struggled to bring it back under control, turning his attention back only in time to see the ribbon of light from Tron's bike slicing across the road in front of him.

The shattering of the guard's bike rang out behind him as Tron tore down the street, turning sharply into a narrow alley to avoid the lightcycles approaching him head-on. To his misfortune, he found it blocked by a tall fence but, penned in by the guards, he had no choice but to press onwards.

Within no time at all he was upon the barrier, using the final nano to collapse his bike back into its baton form . The guards could only look on in awe as Tron bounded forwards, using the momentum of his ride to launch himself at the wall and run up the side of the building. His trajectory took him clear of the top of the fence and he righted himself and leapt down, rolling over before coming to a stop. Glancing over his shoulder he spied the startled guards screeching to a halt and scrambling to scale the fence. Closing in on his position, the lightjets circled above.

Tron squeezed past some crates into a narrow opening between two buildings, disturbing a slumbering gridbug that had nested there. Ahead he could see the opening widen into another alley and beyond that, the containers of the docks – if he could reach those, he figured, he should be able to give his pursuers the slip. He was so focused on his target, it took him a few nano-cycles to acknowledge the guards leaning against the alley walls, surprised by his emergence from the opening. Tron scanned his surroundings. Four black guards against the wall; he could hear the two following him pushing past the crates behind him. The odds weren't in his favor but he could probably handle the six of them.

Ahead he heard a noise and saw four more guardsmen round the corner. He cursed at his bad luck, realizing that he must have happened upon a meeting point between patrols, leaving him mostly surrounded. The narrow alleyway offered him no way to break up his attackers; he knew his only chance was to get out in the open.

The guards began to fan out around him, reaching for their disks and looking hesitantly between themselves and back at Tron, backed up against the wall, waiting for someone to make the first move. Suddenly he sprang forwards, leaping up against the front of one of the guards and pushing his foot off the shoulder of another. His body flew across the alley and slammed against the wall of the opposing building. As he began to slide down, his fingers found a ledge and he hoisted himself upwards, twisting his body to grab hold of a light fixture and swing himself up to a large sign protruding from the structure. A lightdisk ricocheted off the wall, close to his cheek and he slid around under the protection of the billboard before continuing his climb. Beneath him he could hear the shouts of the guards attempting to find a way up.

Beads of sweat gathered on Tron's forehead as he pulled himself up, laboring all the way to the top of the building. He paused for breath before pulling himself onto the roof. He no longer carried the scars from the virus Dyson had forced him to endure for so many cycles, but despite his best efforts, his time in hiding had left him weakened and dulled his senses. More than ever, he found himself grateful for Beck's continued loyalty to the cause.

Once on the roof, he sprinted across the other side towards a fire escape. A quick inspection revealed that the guards had already discovered the same staircase and were scrambling to intercept him. He backed up and urgently scouted out his other options – the best of which appeared to be an adjacent building with a large neon sign that, with a long enough run, he might be able to leap across to and scale.

The yells and clamour of guards were coming from all angles now as he took the first few steps towards his target. His attempt, however, was cut short when two guards swooped down on chutes from their light jets, blocking his path and brandishing their disks. Behind him he could hear many more guards racing onto the roof from the fire escape. Again, he was surrounded.

Grimacing, he reached for his disk and braced himself. The chase was over. Now it was time for the fight.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

A light drizzle began to fall, casting out faint ripples in the grid surface where it fell and causing the ground of the alleyway to shimmer. Ce pulled her cloak tightly around her shoulders and quickened her pace. Normally she liked the rain, but this close to curfew she was anxious to get home and avoid the attention of the guards. Not that they usually detained the medics; most of her patients these days were soldiers of the occupation; but ever since Clu's guards had arrived in town, she hadn't wanted to risk an encounter.

She didn't know if they were still looking for her.

The docks were usually quiet this time of cycle, so she was surprised to hear the sounds of shouting as she rounded the corner. A small group of basics were gathered at the foot of a building, looking up and chattering excitedly as she hurried over to join them. Peering up, she caught glimpses of guards on the rooftops, racing back and forth and swinging their disks.

"It's the Renegade!" yelled one of the programs. Another leaned in to Ce. "I think it's Tron," he muttered anxiously.

She strained, her eyes blinking away the rain, trying to see who the guards were fighting, but from the ground it was too difficult to see.

There was a cry from above and an explosion of orange cubes showered down on the group causing them to shriek and duck for cover. Ce pressed her back against the building and watched the cubes scatter across the street. Two lightbikes whizzed past her and screeched to a halt, the guards racing up the fire escape.

"Let's get out of here!" one of the basics yelled to the group, pulling on his friend's arm, "There'll be more guards on their way!"

The group split and Ce watched them disappear into the buildings and alleys across the street. She knew that sticking around meant trouble, but also knew that there were injured programs up on the roof that would need her help. She found the door of the building unlocked and climbed the stairs.

Tentatively, she opened the door to the roof. At her feet a guard lay unconscious and she could hear shouts and sounds of programs still battling from behind the roof access. She quickly knelt down and checked the guard for injuries, before pressing herself back against the door and leaning to peer around the corner. She was met by a shocking sight of orange cubes scattered all over the roof, punctured by the black shapes of unconscious guards, slumped over air vents and laying out cold on the floor. At the far side of the roof a small group of guards seemed to be fighting together against someone. Whom, or what, she couldn't readily see, but occasionally she would catch a glimpse beyond them, a streak of white, a flicker of cyan, the flash of lightdisks colliding.

Suddenly, she saw the group converge on the figure and for a moment it seemed that they had overwhelmed the enemy. She was startled by a loud cry and the group was split by a piercing orange streak. She heard guards scream out and watched horrified, as they disintegrated into a mass of orange cubes that tumbled onto the floor, revealing a lone figure of white. The figure dropped his disk and stumbled backwards, turning slightly to reveal a large blue gash across his torso. He wrapped his arm across his chest, as if trying to hold himself together and his helmet snapped back to reveal a distinctive face. Ce gasped and straightened back up, pressing her head back against the door and trying to make sense of what she had just seen. She took a few deep breaths and peered back around the corner. Her eyes hadn't deceived her. Though it was beyond her wildest of hopes, there was no doubt in her mind that she was looking at Tron.

She watched as his back hit a chimney and he slid down to the ground with a groan, his eyes shutting and his head slumping to one side. Ce held her breath for a second, her mind racing, wondering what she should do. Up in the sky she could see two dots of light in the distance, no doubt from light jets and more guards on the way. She looked back at Tron and saw that he was still, barely conscious, his head rolled upwards and his eyelids fluttering open. She was about to step out from her hiding place, when she heard a groan from one of the guards on the floor. Slowly the dark figure pushed himself to his feet, and turned towards Tron.

Panicking, she looked around her for something to help. To her right, she spotted a section of piping that must have been cut free during the fight. She clasped it tightly with both hands and peered around the wall. The guard had his back to her and was slowly advancing on Tron, his disk glowing brightly in his unsteady hand. Ce took another deep breath, her stomach churning with misgivings. She saw Tron try to reach for his disk before his head slumped again, his arm dropping back to his side. She couldn't bear to watch any longer.

The guard barely had chance to look back towards the sound of frantic footsteps when the pipe slammed down on his head, causing a bright flash of light before fading to dark. He slumped to the ground into a crumpled heap. Ce stood above him, her whole body shaking, shocked at what she had done.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered at the lifeless figure.

She dropped the pipe with a clatter and tried to collect her senses as she walked over to Tron and knelt beside him. Even without her medical training it was clear to see that he was gravely injured. He seemed aware of her presence and he opened his eyes narrowly, though he seemed to have difficulty focusing on her.

"Tron. Can you hear me?" she said softly.

He groaned and closed his eyes again. She looked down at his chest and examined the gaping wound. A mist of blue code swirled above, and through it she could see that the damage was extensive. She reached over and grabbed his light disk from the ground and looked up at sky. The light jets were getting much closer and there was no way she could repair him before they reached them. She needed to get him somewhere where she could treat him. She looked back at Tron and found that his eyes were open again as he struggled to look back at her.

"Tron, we need to get out of here. Do you think you can walk?"

She saw that he was starting to lose consciousness again, his eyelids drooped and his head lolled backwards. She grabbed his shoulder and shook him firmly.

"Tron! Tron!"

"Get Up!"

His eyes opened and for the first time he met her gaze. In that moment her stomach flipped and suddenly she felt very self-conscious; intimidated in the presence of the greatest warrior the grid had ever known. She pushed back her doubts and reached out to him, pulling his shoulder forwards and clipping his disk to his back. She stood up and help pull Tron to his feet. He winced and breathed heavily between his teeth, but managed to steady himself. Ce pulled his arm around her shoulder and he leaned on her as she helped him slowly and painfully across the roof to the door and into the elevator.

Opening the front door to the building she could hear the sounds of lightbikes approaching. She looked across the street to the large containers at the docks.

"This way," she murmured as she half dragged him across the street. Tron stumbled slightly and Ce panted under his weight, but somehow they made it to the other side and beyond the outer perimeter of docks. She found a spot between two stacks of containers that was partially covered from the air and lowered Tron to the ground, gently leaning him back against the corrugated surface. She reached over his shoulder for his disk but Tron batted her hand away.

"I'm a medic. I can help," she insisted impatiently.

She reached out again and Tron raised his hand weakly in resistance. Irritated, she pushed it aside and unclipped his disk. Tron groaned in protest, but was too exhausted to stop her. Instead, he watched as she accessed his disk and poured over his code, surveying the damage, pausing only to watch as the lightjets tore overhead and circled back around.

She knew that it was only a matter of time before the guards would come looking for them, so she quickly changed track and accessed the files for attire. Promptly, pixels of black fanned out across Trons body, replacing his white suit.

"Good," she muttered to herself "Now you don't stick out like a walking spotlight anymore."

She sighed as her fingers danced across the images and digits projected above the disk so quickly, Tron had no way to keep up with the changes she was making. Suddenly he felt a surge of heat through his body, the pain numbing, his chest tightening and his head felt impossibly light. The blue streaks that scarred his torso faded to black. He struggled again to focus on his surroundings.

"What have you done to me?" he croaked.

Ce knelt forwards and pulled his face level to hers, staring into his eyes. "Can you see me ok?"

He nodded weakly. She leaned over and clipped his disk back onto his back, before lowering herself back face to face with him. She spoke steadily and firmly.

"I'm Ce. I'm a friend. Your code is too badly damaged. I need to get you somewhere safer before I can help you. I've diverted power from some less necessary functions to help you move and keep the damage from getting worse. Do you understand?"

Tron nodded. She continued.

"You're going to feel a little strange for a while, so I need you to try to focus on me as much as you can. You'll be using energy faster than you can pull from the grid, so we won't have much time before your systems will start to shut down. Just follow as quickly as you can - my unit isn't far from here. Can you do that?"

He nodded again and she helped him back to his feet. This time it was effortless; but the effect was disorientating and he felt like he was much taller, like his head was being pulled upwards by a string. Ce turned away and took a few steps to the edge of the container and peered around. He followed and struggled to stop without losing his balance and had to reach out to steady himself. He felt uncomfortable, like he was drunk, the sights seeming to shift around the edges of his vision.

Tron narrowed his focus and stared at the slender figure before him, watching for a cue. He wasn't even sure if he could trust her, but at this point he was incapable of defending himself. Though he was loathed to admit it to himself, he needed her help. And he didn't have any choice but to hope that she truly was an ally.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Tesler was furious. Paige could tell long before she walked into his chamber, the sounds of his voice echoing through the ship's corridors and cavernous rooms. She paused before entering the room and took a deep breath before rounding the entrance, head held high.

"And you? Where were you through all this?" he turned and roared at her.

She responded as calmly as she could, glancing sideways at a cowering Pavel.

"Forgive me, General. I was off duty at the time. I returned to the ship as soon as I heard the news."

Tesler turned away from her wordlessly and walked back towards his seat. She watched after him, waiting for what she was sure would be an enraged response. Her eyes wandered to the ground and to a pile of orange cubes. Another hapless guard, no doubt. Probably didn't even have a chance to explain how he wasn't involved in the earlier break in. She cursed the Renegade under her breath for pushing Tesler this far.

Pavel broke her thoughts with his sneering voice.

"Another break in on Paige's cycle off? It's becoming quite the habit, don't you think?" His eyes gleamed gleefully.

Paige scoffed in disgust, but the fact wasn't lost on her. This had been the second break-in recently and both times had been while she was off base. She was sure the Renegade was avoiding her.

"Twice is hardly a habit," she retorted as confidently as she could muster, hoping to persuade Tesler. Despite the fact that she had been cleared of conspiring against Tesler, she knew she was still on shaky ground after her rescue from the games by the Renegade.

Tesler looked unconvinced and as furious as ever as turned back around and sat down.

"I don't care what important business you think you have to attend to. Until the Renegade is caught, neither of you will take any more leave!" he screamed at them. "Now get out there and find him!"

Pavel opened his mouth to say something, causing Tesler to spring back onto his feet.

"NOW!"

Paige cursed the Renegade again as she turned and marched out of the chamber with Pavel scuttling after her.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Ce peered around the corner and down the street towards her unit and fought to catch her breath. So far, they had managed to make their way through the city quarters undetected, darting down alleyways and between buildings, successfully evading the patrols they had stumbled across. The street was quiet and dark with only the occasional shimmer of light across the tops of the buildings and the buzz from passing vehicles on the overpass above them. She tiptoed forwards and waved at Tron to follow her, but he was only able to stumble around the corner and lean against the wall, his knees starting to buckle.

"Oh no, not now," she muttered to herself. She hastened back over to him and tried to pull him up straight.

"Only a little ways further," she encouraged him.

Tron groaned and she felt him becoming limp, his energy waning. He slumped forward onto her, pinning her against the wall, his head dropped against her shoulder. Ce struggled to breathe under his crushing weight and tried to jostle him upright. She lowered her helmet and wriggled her arms up to lift up his head. It was impossible to see if his eyes were open through his darken visor but she did her best to guess where his eyes might be and look into them, hoping he could see her.

"Tron, can you hear me?" she whispered.

He groaned again. Ce lowered his head and wrapped her arms around him, tucking her shoulders under his arms and locking her legs to help carry some of his weight. His helmet scraped against the wall behind her as it flopped to one side. She grimaced as she jostled him into a more comfortable position. It was clear they weren't going anywhere.

"We can rest here a few moments, " Ce reassured him, "let you recharge a little."

"State your purpose, programs!" commanded a voice from further down the avenue.

Ce flinched and turned to see two patrol guards walking up the street. She tried not to panic as she tried to think of a way to distract them.

"We were just returning to our unit."

"You have broken curfew. Please stand aside and prepare to be detained," the guard motioned to Tron's slumped figure.

Ce's mind was racing. Things were quickly going south and once they determined who she was helping she was sure they'd get a lot worse. Her code pulse loudly in her chest and she did her best to smile pleasantly to the guards.

"No, you don't understand - we're here at our unit." She patted the wall behind her and looked over at the door, "See? Unit A113 … that's me…" she added hopefully before tilting her head towards Tron. "...but I'm having trouble getting my friend in." He grunted slightly and slid off her shoulder to the side. She struggled to pull him straight again.

She leaned back towards the guards. "We were at the clubs and I'm afraid he's had a little too much fizz," she whispered conspiratorially and flashed another disarming smile.

The guards stared silently back at her. A couple of light cycles raced noisily across the intersection at the other end, heading towards the docks. The guards looked back towards the noise and then at each other, sensing something was up. Ce felt the muscle in her jaw tighten.

"Maybe one of you kind programs might be able to help me carry my friend in?" she asked cheerfully.

The guards turned back towards her and stared blankly.

"Make sure we don't see you here when we get back," one of them stated simply and, without another word, they both turned and marched back down the street, towards the intersection.

Ce watched them as they rounded the corner and let out a sigh of relief, letting her body relax for a micro. Tron slid forwards and she jumped back to attention, straining to push him back up. She felt his arm raise up and push against the wall behind her, lifting his weight off her body. He slowly raised his head.

"Do you think you can make it a little further?" she asked hopefully.

He nodded weakly and she moved next to him, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. She glanced back at the door next to them, then turned Tron around and started the slow process of hauling his unsteady figure across the street.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Beck had half expected Tron to already be back at the hideout by the time he reached it. Just when Beck thought he might be catching up with his mentor, Tron would surprise him with something even more impressive, another trick up his sleeve, a faster way to take down an opponent. It reminded him how much he still had to learn.

But Tron wasn't there and as the micros passed, Beck reflected on how little he had been at the hideout without Tron there. The emptiness started to bother him and he began checking the surveillance and monitoring the networks. The intelligence he had gathered was also bothersome. The Renegade had been reported leaving Tesler's ship. A brutal fight had occurred close the edge of Argon City and then, nothing. It was as if Tron had disappeared. He was at least relieved that there still seemed to be a search effort underway. At least that meant that he hadn't been caught, or even worse, derezzed.

He realized that it wouldn't be too long before cycle-break and paced over to the large windows looking out over the outerlands and towards Argon City, hoping to see the streak of light from Tron's lightcycle.

"Where are you, Tron?" he murmured to himself, anxiously.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Tron's energy finally ran out halfway up the stairwell to Ce's unit.

Just as she thought they were going to make it to safety, she felt his weight suddenly press down on her shoulders and he slid down onto his knees, dragging her down with him. She released his arm and he flopped face-down onto the stairs, his helmet clattering loudly against the steps.

"Shhhhhh!" she hissed out involuntarily, then feeling immediately foolish talking to his lifeless body. She glanced nervously up the stairs and towards the doors in the corridor above them. None opened.

Ce crouched down and pulled Tron over onto his back, then folded him over into a seated position. She stood back and caught her breath, assessing his crumpled frame, his circuitry dimmed, almost imperceptible.

"What am I going to do with you now?" she whispered to herself.

She looked back at the doors behind her. Json would help her, she was sure of it. But she glanced nervously across the hall at her other neighbor, Ruby's, door. Ruby was heavily influenced by Clu, a staunch believer who hated ISOs (even though Ce was sure she'd never met any in person) and a meddler. She imagined her spending much of her time with her ear pressed against her door, listening for the sound of basics passing in the hall, so she could spring out and foist her opinions on them. Ce would do her best to tiptoe past on her way to and from work. She certainly didn't want her to come out now, which meant she couldn't risk the disturbance from knocking on Json's door.

She sighed and turned back to Tron. Placing her feet on either side of him, she sat a couple of steps behind him and wrapped her arms around his disk. Gritting her teeth and pulling with all her might, she slowly managed to drag him up one step, before she was forced to rest. She glanced back at Ruby's door and hoped she was deep in sleep mode. Thankfully the corridor remained silent. She went back to work, panting and grunting as she pulled Tron up another step, then another, until she finally reached the top of her stairs. Her body ached, but she kept on moving, focused, quietly dragging his limp body past her neighbors doors and on to her own. Holding her breath, she slid the door open and pulled Tron in, not letting it out until the door was firmly closed behind her and they were shrouded in the safety of her abode.

Fighting against his heavy frame, she pushed Tron up onto her cot and then sank down to the floor, exhausted. She sat there for a few micros observing him, still not quite sure if she could really believe what she was seeing or had experienced. Suddenly she found that she could not stop shaking as the shock of the cycle's end hit her and she realized how much trouble she would have been in if she had been caught. She knew she wouldn't last a micro in the Games, assuming that they let her off so easily. Still, she wasn't in the clear yet. Not until Tron was able to leave her unit.

She pushed up off the floor and unsteadily made her way about her tiny apartment to fix a little liquid energy, before settling on the side of her cot. Gingerly removing Tron's disk, she got to work on fixing his code. She lowered his helmet, then pausing briefly to rub her forehead with her fingers, she scanned the damage across the various files and bit her lip. It was going to be a long cycle's end, that was for sure. She gave one last long look at Tron's face before lowering her gaze and focusing herself on the repairs.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The garage was quieter than it had been for the last few cycles, now that the mess from the mobile rectifier had been cleaned up and the excitement of overthrowing Pavel had calmed down. For the most part, it seemed that things were back to normal, but Beck could see that, for Mara, this wasn't likely. He watched her from across the seat of the light bike he was repairing, wondered what she was thinking about, or plotting against, as she sighed to herself and stared into the distance, obviously disinterested in her work.

Ever since the crew had chased off Pavel, Beck had been worried about reprisal and Tron had agreed that he should spend more time at the garage, watching over his friends. But it seemed that it had been unnecessary; Pavel's cowardice ensured that he never reported the incident to his superior, and the arrival of Clu's forces had taken the wind from the fledgling uprising's sails. But not for Mara. Beck was sure of it. And reports of rebellion activity was on the rise across Argon City. It worried him that she was out there alone.

Out there alone. His thoughts turned back to Tron. He'd paced back and forth back at the hideout scanning every system until early cycle. Eventually he realized he could do no more and headed back to the garage to get some fitful sleep before starting his shift. But he found himself having a harder time staying focused on his tasks than even Mara seemed to be. He replayed their last encounter over and over in his mind, regretting the moment he had driven away, leaving his mentor to whatever fate he now faced.

He resolved to check in during mid-cycle break and put his mind at rest and even tried to persuade himself that Tron was probably already back at the lab, analyzing the data they had retrieved on the mission. Beck had been relieved to discover, after a quick scan of the datacube, that none of his friends were under under any suspicion. He stared over at Mara and wondered how long that could last.

"Ummm, I'm not sure that's how you fix that," a friendly voice interrupted his musings. He startled and looked up to find his friend Zed standing over him, arms folded and eyebrow raised, and glanced back at the bike to see that he'd attached the engine circuitry backwards. He groaned inwardly and yanked the connectors while Zed leaned up against the bike.

"What's up with you, Beck?" He sounded concerned "You're almost as distracted as Mara these cycles..."

His voice drifted off and he looked over at his friend, looking lovely as usual - and almost certainly not fixing her bike. He sighed.

Beck wasn't sure what to say. "Just tired I guess."

Zed wasn't listening. Instead he leaned in to Beck without taking his eyes off Mara.

"Any idea what Mara has been getting up to recently?" he murmured. "She's been acting weird ever since that huge recognizer crashed landed here, sneaking off after curfew and between shifts."

Beck shrugged.

"Do you think she's running around with that Renegade guy?" He sounded a little jealous.

"I don't know, Zed," he responded uncomfortably. "I'm sure that whatever she's doing, she'll tell us when she's ready."

A loud blaring interrupted their conversation.

"Argh! What now?" complained Zed as a recognizer glided down into the hangar.

Beck stood up and they headed over to bay to see what all the commotion was, dreading that Pavel had returned. When he saw the platform slide down to reveal Paige, he wasn't sure if he was pleased, or even more worried. Either way he felt his code tingling inside and he ran his fingers through his hair. _Play it cool, Beck,_ he thought to himself.

Mara had snapped out of her daydream and was taking the lead as usual, lining up the programs and stepping out in front of the garage staff to meet their uninvited guest. Paige regarded her coolly before turning to the crowd in front of her.

"Pay attention, programs. Last night, the Renegade attacked peacekeeping troops and derezzed many innocent guards." Paige paused to let the words sink in as Beck stole a look sidewards at Mara to see her reaction.

"Fortunately, we have reason to believe that he was badly wounded in the attack and is likely still hiding in the area. We've been given full authorization to sweep any building or facility in the area to find him."

The crowd murmured uneasily at the news. If Mara did have any feelings about the incident, Beck observed, she was doing a good job of keeping them to herself. He resolved to do the same and stared blankly forwards.

Paige strode slowly in front of the crowd, like a drill sergeant on parade, searching the faces of the programs stood to attention, seeing what secrets they might give up. Beck felt her approach and did his best not to break his stare. His mouth felt dry.

In her velvety voice, Paige continued. "If anyone knows anything about the Renegade, they would be wise to indicate it now. Any programs found harbouring this... _murderer_ ….will be punished by the fullest extent." She stopped before reaching Beck and turned to scan the crowd, her eyes skipping past Beck as though he wasn't there. Beck felt his cheeks burn, but continued to maintain his stance.

"Last chance, programs," Paige purred.

With no one responding to her threat, Paige nodded to the sentries who quickly fanned out and began to sweep the ground level of the garage. Beck watched as Mara was led to unlock the door to Abel's office, which had been sealed since Pavel's incursion. As the guards began to move up to the upper levels of the garage, Beck felt his anxiety rise. If Tron really was badly injured, it was entirely likely that he would try make his way to Beck, to get help. It wouldn't be the first time Tron had snuck into Able's garage looking for him.

A voice startled him out of his thoughts. "Something you'd like to share, program?"

Paige sidled up to him. Beck realized he had been stood in thought alone, the rest of the staff having returned their duties.

"Uh….no," he flustered, trying to gather his thoughts, conceal his guilt. "I...uh…" He glanced over hopefully at her but was met by a suspicious gaze. A cold, but beautiful, suspicious gaze. "...I...was just wondering how you'd been. It's been a few cycles."

She glared at him a few micros longer, as if unsure what to make of his explanation. Beck's felt the burning return to his cheeks, and lowered his eyes. He heard Paige sighed and from the corner of his eye, saw her hand drop from her hip.

"Beck…"

Her voice was noticeably softer. Beck looked back up at her face, finding her whole expression had softened. She opened her mouth again to speak when one of the guards interrupted.

"We've just received report of a potential sighting," he leaned in closer and murmured something quietly into her ear, possibly the location, but to Beck it was inaudible.

Paige looked from the guard to Beck and turned back to the recognizer.

"I'm sorry," was all she said over her shoulder as she departed, leaving Beck to watch her board the recognizer, followed by her troops.

His heart sank as he watched the canopy of the recognizer raise until Paige was out of view and screwed up his nose in annoyance. _So much for playing it cool_ , he berated himself.

Zed and Mara appeared at his side and watched as the Recognizers lifted up of the ground and slowly drifted away from the garage.

"Do you think they've found him?" Mara asked nervously. Her calm exterior had crumbled and her bright blue eyes were wide with worry.

"I'm sure he can take care of himself," Beck reassured her, but inside he couldn't suppress the alarm at what had learnt. Tron was injured and now they were possibly closing in on his position. All he could think about was getting back to the hideout and trying to intercept the guards communications, find out where his mentor was.

Zed voiced Beck's fears; "If he's injured as badly as they think he is, he won't stand much of a chance out there with both Tesler's and Clu's forces looking for him."

A loud clatter emanated from the corner of the garage and the group turned to see Link standing over his toppled bike. Zed groaned and ran over to help him.

"I wonder if we can do something to help," Mara murmured half out loud.

"Who, Link?" asked Beck distractedly, slowly backing away.

"No, the Renegade," Mara sounded exasperated.

Beck was itching to leave. "Look…." he started.

"It'll be break time soon," she continued, "maybe we can go down to the square and start up some trouble. Draw the guards' attention there so he has a chance to escape from wherever he is right now."

Beck was only half listening. "I just remembered that there's somewhere I have to be," he explained feebly and made for the exit.

"Beck!" Mara exclaimed, annoyed.

"I'm sorry. I-I'll be back as soon as I can," he turned and sprinted a few steps, pulling out his baton and transforming it to a bike beneath him before speeding out of the garage.

Mara clenched her fist and let out a frustrated grunt. She watched in dismay at Beck's retreating image as he sped off in the distance. Once again, she had come to her friend for help, only for him to run away again. She'd always thought of Beck as an idealist who would never back down from a fight and, especially with the death of Bohdi, she had been sure she could have engaged him in the uprising. But ever since the occupation had started, he'd become increasingly distant and withdrawn. And now it seemed he was fraternizing with the enemy, keen for the attentions of General Tesler's lieutenant, no less. She wondered if she could even trust him at all.

She turned her thoughts back to the more pressing matter of the Renegade. Now there was someone principled, someone she could trust. And now he was in danger. She crouched back down next to the bike she was working on and began to form her plan.


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

A first there was only darkness. An endless sea of black in which he felt himself floating; drifting timelessly. A soft ripple of light washed over him, enveloping him with its milky warmth briefly, before dying away again, returning him to a deeply relaxed state. The light built up again slowly and faded, and from somewhere beyond the sea he heard a faint whispering sound. The light pulsed again, this time stronger and more pronounced. He searched for the sound again, watching as the light focused in front of his vision, flashing faster and faster until it was nothing more than a blinking rectangle in front of him. He felt himself floating towards it and tried to reach out to touch it, but found he couldn't move his body or, even more disconcerting, feel his body at all.

He felt himself accelerating towards the flashing light and a sense of the sea shrinking all around him. A wave of familiarity washed over him. A memory.

The Grid.

The light grew bigger in his vision until it was flashing all around him, the whispering becoming more audible, turning into an uneven faint buzzing. He remembered this feeling from before; from when he first entered the Grid. He was booting up.

The light flashed brightly once more in his face and suddenly everything was back to darkness, but this time from his eyelids closed tightly, shielding him from the images that lay beyond. An unease filled him, a sense of recent danger, but his memories were flooding into his mind too fast to make sense of them, like scanning the projections of someone else's disk with all the events out of sequence. He stayed very still, not wanting to attract any attention until he had a better assessment of his situation.

He became aware of his breathing, of the pressure of the wall behind him. He flexed his fingers and felt the surface give slightly beneath his touch; the softness of a cot, perhaps? The whispering had been replaced by the whirr and buzzing of distant vehicles, probably somewhere in the city, and he sensed that he was no longer outside. He strained to recall anything that could tell him about where he was or what had happened before this moment.

Guards. A fight. Pain.

The images came as freezed frames flashing through the fog in his head. He'd been injured; badly. He tensed the muscles in his torso and braced himself for the agony he expected to feel, pain that never came. Instead, he felt a dull ache from his chest - certainly not the kind of pain that came with an injury from a light disk. How long had he been out, he wondered?

More memories. Containers at the docks. Floating through the streets of Argon city. A soft voice. Golden hair. Kind eyes.

A friend.

Tron slowly opened his eyes and was greeted by the sight of the ceiling of, from what he could make out, a small room with a large window at the far end. He blinked a few times and raised his head slightly, scanning the meager unit, though there wasn't much to see. Behind him, at the edge of the cot, was an opening through which he could see a tiny room with a table and chair for one. The room he was in was scantily furnished with nothing more than a small locker and the cot he was laying on. And not alone apparently.

He fixed his eyes on the petite figure curled up half way down the bed, pale strands of hairs laying across her cheek, her lips slightly parted and her eyes closed tightly, deep in sleep. The angel from his memories. Her arm was extended out in front of her and her fingers were wound around a white identity disk, which he recognized as his own. He looked down at his own form and was surprised to see nothing more than a few grey-ish pixels across his chest where the scars had been. He recalled a shadow of a memory that confirmed that she was a medic. One hell of a medic at that, considering how well she had repaired his code.

Gingerly, he pushed himself up and quietly swung his legs over his slumbering protector and to the edge of the cot. He slowly rose to his feet, taking care not to disturb her, and stretched out his back and limbs, taking stock of his situation. His energy levels were severely depleted, but the integrity of his code seemed intact; if he could get to a busy street without drawing attention to himself, there was a good chance he could make it out of the city.

He knelt back down next to the cot and brought his face level with the medic's serene face, triggering a memory. _I'm Ce. I'm a friend._ Tron studied her high cheekbones and opalescent skin for a brief moment, before reaching over to his disk and gently and painstakingly prying her fingers from its smooth surface. Carefully he lifted it from the cot and clipped it between his shoulders. He rose back to his feet and steadied himself against the wall, countering the dizziness. Ce stirred slightly and he froze, not wanting to make a sound, lest he wake her. He was truly grateful for the help she had given him, of the risks she had taken in sheltering him, but he knew that every micro he stayed he was endangering her further. Leaving was the best way he could possibly repay her.

He was about to turn for the door when he heard a commotion from outside. Tip-toeing to the far side of the room he pressed his back against the wall and peered out of the window. He found himself looking over a street, across at a low line of residential units, somewhere in the Alpha district of Argon City. Across the road, guards were congregating around the entrance of one of the units and were pounding on the door.

"Good to see you on your feet," came a sleepy voice.

Tron turned to see Ce pushing herself up by her elbows and rubbing the sleep from her eyes and with it, his chance to slip out unnoticed. She stretched and leaned over to her locker to rummage through it. A yell from outside turned his attention back to the window and he saw the door of the unit open and the guards dragging out a program into the street, forcing him onto his knees. Ce padded up to join him and handed him a thin vial filled with crystalline energy.

"Take this - it will bring your energy levels back up."

Tron gratefully downed the contents and immediately felt a surge of power through his body, the dizziness passing. He observed Ce frowning as she surveyed the scene beneath them in the street. The captive program was covering his head with his arms, looking up only to shout answers at the guards.

"What's over there?" Tron asked, nodding over at the small congregation.

"A113, " she responded grimly.

The address sounded vaguely familiar to him. Ce looked back at Tron, her complexion paling, and her silvery grey eyes wide with worry.

"It means they know I might be the one who helped you."

They watched as one of the guards unclipped his disk and shoved it in front of the hapless programs face, activating a projection. It was difficult to see from such a distance, but it was easy to surmise that the guard was replaying the scene from the previous night.

"Oh no! I had my helmet down," Ce remembered as she watched anxiously.

The program studied the disk and shook his head, and they heard raised voices from the angry guards. Ce gasped, pressing her hand across her mouth as one took his staff and savagely struck the innocent basic, eliciting a pained cry. She shot a sidewards glance at Tron to see his jaw clench and his eyebrows furrow. The guard raised his staff again and shouted at program. Sobbing, he slowly raised his arm and pointed across the street.

Ce and Tron quickly leaned back from the window as the guards turned to look across at their building.

"I think it's time for you to get out of here," she whispered breathlessly to him.

He frowned back at her. "What about you?" he asked, concerned.

She thought quickly. "I'll be okay. I can tell them I was out with my neighbor last night - he'll cover for me." She started for the door.

Tron paused. He was reluctant to leave her to face the guards alone, but if she could pull it off, then there would be no reason for the guards to bother her further and it would avoid another conflict. Plus there was not enough time for him to come up with a better plan.

"Is there another way out of here?" he asked, hearing the guards beneath the window.

Ce shook her head. "Only the roof. You should be able to climb down from there while I distract the guards." She tried to make herself sound more sure of herself than she felt, as she slid open her unit door and peered out into the corridor. She beckoned back at him.

Tron stepped by her, out of the unit and turned back. "Thank you," he spoke gravely.

Ce looked up at him and tried to muster a smile to hide her disappointment that their encounter was over so soon. She'd stayed awake all through cycle's end working on fixing his code, wondering where he'd been all this time, thinking of all the questions she wanted to ask once he was recovered.

The guards pounded downstairs on front door of the building.

"Go," she said softly.

Tron nodded and set off towards the stairs. Ce was struck with a thought.

"Head a couple of blocks north of here to access the tunnels. It should give you a better chance of making it back to the hideout."

Tron froze. The hideout! He spun around to face her.

"How do you know about the hideout?" he barked. The guards banged again but Tron stayed motionless, frowning.

Ce looked confused for a micro, then realized what she had just said.

"I-I wasn't prying, I just…" she stammered, her voice drifting off.

 _Of course, his disk,_ he thought to himself.

The commotion was beginning to disturb the other occupants of the building. A door behind Tron slipped open and Ce saw her neighbor, Ruby, peer out. She turned and gasped when she saw Tron and Ce together in the hallway. Tron glanced back at her from over his shoulder and she shrieked and took off down the hallway and down the stairs.

Ce started to panic. There was no way now that she'd be able to persuade the guards that Tron was really Json, now that Ruby had seen them together. Tron, however, seemed more concerned with her. He walked towards her and she felt her cheeks burn as he glared down at her.

"What else do you know?"

Ce gulped. "Just the hideout and…." her voice wavered, "….and...Beck," she squeaked out.

They could hear Ruby flinging open the front door and shouting hysterically. "He's here! They're upstairs."

Tron kept his stare fixed on Ce. She held her breath and felt herself trembling as she wondered what he could be thinking. She hadn't meant to anger him, only find out if there was anyone else who could help if she couldn't fix his code. She heard the guards shouting at the foot of the stairs.

Suddenly Tron raised his helmet and darkened his visor.

"You're coming with me," he growled.

Ce didn't have chance to respond before he grabbed her wrist and started to run towards the stairs, pulling her along. She did her best to keep up as they scrambled up the stairwell, seeing the guards climbing up beneath them.

They burst through the door onto the roof and stumbled out into the open. Tron immediately scanned the surroundings, searching for a way forwards.

"Over there," Ce pointed to the top of a drainpipe, and they ran over to the edge of the building. Tron peered over and assessed the climb down. They weren't high up, but they'd be vulnerable during the climb down. He looked back at the roof door, the shouts of the guards were getting closer. He backed away from the edge of the roof.

"Do you have a bike?" he asked.

Ce shook her head, eyes wide open. "I work nearby," she mumbled.

Tron looked back towards the edge of the building and back at the door.

"Then you'd better hold on," was all he said before grabbing her and hoisting her onto his back and running towards the edge of building.

Ce felt herself wanting to scream and gripped on tightly, burying her face into his shoulder as she felt his strong legs launch them up onto the wall and then leap off the roof. For a nano she felt like they were suspended in the air before her stomach lurched as they they tumbled forwards. Tron reached to his side and pulled the baton that materialized in his hand across him, snapping it apart. Ce heard the whoosh of the lightbike forming beneath them and gripped even tighter.

The bike slammed against the ground and fishtailed momentarily as the tires smoked against the grid. Tron grunted as Ce's weight pushed down on him and he felt the suspension of the bike flex beneath him as he fought to retain control.

The guards raced out onto the roof just in time to see them speed off down the street; a streak of light shining brightly behind them.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Pavel watched the approaching recognizer and smirked to himself at having the good fortune of arriving before Paige. The pitiful program had confirmed the location of the female program suspected of harboring the Renegade and now the prize of his capture was waiting for him to claim. He watched the guards pouring into the building as he crossed over to the entrance. A dour-faced female was busy flustering at the guards, reciting her encounter with "Tron", wagging her finger importantly at them. He gave her a wide berth.

Up ahead a guard leaned over the roof wall and shouted down to the other guards. One turned and quickly marched up to Pavel.

"The Renegade escaped the building, sir," he announced.

Pavel shot out a hand and grabbed the guard by his collar, pulling him in close.

"Then find him!" he screamed into the guard's face before shoving him aside. The guard scurried away and quickly mounted his bike, waving at the other guards to follow. Pavel screwed up his nose in irritation. So many guards and what was supposed to be a badly injured program and yet, somehow, the Renegade had still gotten away. He roughly pushed a sentry out of his way as he made his way up the stairs of the building.

He found two sentries guarding the entrance to a tiny unit. Pavel scanned the apartment, looking for any clues about the resident who inhabited it. The place was spartan with no personal artifacts and furnished meagerly with the most basic items. He surmised that whoever lived here was either very poor or very careful not to leave traces of themselves. He decided the latter when he found the code repairer in a small locker next to the cot. He slyly placed it in his pocket.

"Hiding evidence?" a velvety voice chimed out behind him.

He sneered to himself, clenching his fist in recognition. _Oh, the things he would do to that program if she wasn't one of Tesler's pets_. He did his best to force his face into a beseeching expression before turning to face her, leaning against the doorframe.

"Oh, how could you think such a thing? I merely wanted to make sure none of the other guards disturbed anything."

Paige looked unconvinced. "And there was me thinking you just wanted to make sure you'd be first to identify our Renegade's little friend." She pushed off against the door frame with her shoulder and slinked into the room, glancing around at the cot and the window. "Anyways, there's no need," she continued. "The vile program downstairs is her very informative neighbor. Apparently we're looking for a medical program named Ce." She crouched down to pick up a discarded energy vial and paused.

"...she was quite convinced that she saw her with... Tron."

Pavel shot a look back at her at the mention of his name. "And her disk?"

"Unfortunately our informant ran off right away, and the light was behind them, but…" she paused again as she recalled the blurry image on Ruby's disk "... the likeness is undeniable."

Pavel stroked his chin thoughtfully as he digested Paige's words. _So it would appear that perhaps Clu is holding something back from Tesler_ , he thought.

"Hmmm….how interesting," he purred.

And smiled.


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The wind whistled through Ce's hair as she pressed her face into Trons back, her arms wrapped tightly around his waist as he raced down the street, dodging through traffic, terrifyingly close at times. She leaned back slightly and let her helmet wrap up around her face, cocooning her head in relative calmness and stole a look backwards to see a group of guards on lightcycles following them.

"We have company."

"I see them," growled Tron.

He maneuvered the bike to the inner lane and slowed slightly to behind a roadster, gauging the trajectories of the other vehicles. Ce could see the guards gaining on them but resisted the urge to speak. _This is what Tron was programmed for,_ she thought, knowing that her best bet was to let him focus and to listen out for any instructions. Her grip tightened.

One of the guards neared them and reached back for his disk, activating it. Ce peered at the shiny black median wall and watched the reflection of him behind them, moving himself into position, ready to take the shot. Suddenly, Tron accelerated, sharply leaning to the right and cutting in front of the truck next to them, then across the other lanes before darting into an alley. Behind them, the guards, boxed in between the roadster and the truck, slowed and split, trying to navigate around the traffic and across the highway. Ce saw one of them turn into the alley behind them as Tron steered the bike around around a building, where they were greeted by the sight of a dead end. He quickly braked and steered, breaking the tail loose and spinning the bike. The wheels smoked and squealed against the grid until they were facing the way they had come, the tires regaining the traction, causing them to launch back off down the alley. The guard barely had time to gasp as he rounded the corner and saw Tron coming towards him, disk drawn. He dragged his disk along the guards bike as he passed, sending it bursting into fireworks, the guard flying through the air behind them and landing in a crumpled heap.

"One down," he murmured.

Tron brought the light cycle to a halt at the corner of the building, lowered his helmet, and looked around them. The other guards would probably be looping back and blocking off the entrance to the alley so he collapsed the baton and pointed across at a small archway between two buildings.

"Over there."

They hastened over to the opening and peered down the thin passage into the darkness.

"I think it's a dead end," Ce whispered back at Tron. Behind them the rumble of bike engines echoed off the alleyway walls.

"Too late now," he responded simply, and nudged her forwards, hurrying her into the passageway. Ce pulse quickened at the sounds of the the approaching bikes and she rushed forwards into the darkness and almost yelped when she felt Tron's strong hands on her waist, yanking her backwards. He stepped back against a slight depression in the wall and pulled her in close, wrapping his arms around her waist and across her shoulders.

"Shhh..." he hissed, his voice, so close, that it startled her.

A light illuminated the wall of the passageway opposite them and quickly spread across the back wall and towards them. Ce felt Tron press himself further into the nook and his arms tightened around her, pulling her in closer. The light shone across them, glancing slightly off the front of her figure. She sucked in her breath and listened painfully for any sound from the guards that might indicate they had been detected.

The light slowly moved back towards the back wall and Ce watched it anxiously. Tron's wrist was pressed uncomfortably against her collarbone, but she dare not move, lest she capture the attention of their pursuers. She tried to control her urge to shift and became acutely aware of his form, pressed firmly against her back, his breath against her hair and cheek. Something about his enveloping presence soothed her as she focused on the rhythm, his chest rising and falling, and she realised that she couldn't recall how long it had been since she had been this close to another program. Ce started to feel light-headed and she closed her eyes and slowly let out a breath she had been holding in for more nanos than she could remember.

Abruptly she felt Tron release her and she stumbled forwards into the passageways, her knees week. He caught her again and gripped her firmly on the waist as she steadied herself.

'Are you alright?" he whispered.

Ce nodded, embarrassed at her lapse in concentration; that she had been unaware of the moment when the light had finally disappeared. She quickly snapped her mind back into focus. From back in the alley they could hear the shouts of one of the guards.

"Guard down! Over here!"

Tron crept back towards the opening to the alley and peered around the corner. The guards were leaning over the crumpled figure of the guard he had just taken down, their backs turned momentarily. He motioned to Ce to follow and they scampered by silently and back down the alleyway.

They picked up the pace as they neared the opening to the street, eager to get back on the road. Ce's growing relief was cut short by the loud revving of a cycle and a guard turned into the alleyway, ahead. Within a nano he was on them, and through his visor, she could see that he was almost as startled as she was to see him. Before he could respond, Tron whipped out his baton and hurled it with skillful accuracy at the rider, hitting him squarely in the throat. The guard fell back and slipped from the bike, gurgling and clutching his throat, causing the light cycle to collapse back into a baton that spiralled and skidded back up the alley.

Tron was upon it, not a moment too soon as the ruckus drew the attention of the others guards. He grasped it and handed it back to Ce.

"Try to keep up," he barked.

He raced back towards the street and activated his baton in one smooth motion. Ce took after him, hesitantly leaping through the air and feeling the bike form beneath her. Together they swung out of the alleyway and into the traffic with the two guards in hot pursuit.

The lights and sounds of the other vehicles blurred together as Ce fought to keep the bike steady while following Tron as he sliced and swerved through the traffic. Behind them the guards tore after them, gaining on them with each nano. Tron led them through the heavy traffic, then drifted over to an off-ramp that spiraled down to quieter streets below the highway. He dropped back, levelling up with Ce.

"We're not far from the tunnels. Stay ahead and I'll take care of our company."

Ce nodded and pulled ahead while Tron activated his light ribbon. Almost instantly the guards were upon him, flanking him in a pincer formation. One raised his disk and slashed backwards at him. Tron caught his wrist in a vice-like grip, pulling the guard off-center and and giving his bike a sharp kick. The lightcycle swayed beneath its rider and the guard swung around with his other fist, knocking Tron squarely in his jaw. Tron pushed back and quickly returned to his riding position, speeding up and barely cutting in front of the guard. The lightcycle ricocheted against Tron's light ribbon and spun out, taking down its rider in a rolling spray of blue voxels.

The second guard swerved to avoid a collision, but was quick to pull back alongside the masked warrior.

"Give it up, Renegade!" he shouted over the roar of the bikes. "You really believe you can single handedly defeat Clu's forces?"

Tron bristled at the reference. All this time he had been trying to get others to believe Beck was himself and now he was being identified for the Renegade. His indignation spurred him to respond.

"I'm not alone," he snarled back before ramming his bike into the side of the guard.

The guard pulled his bike steady and leaned back into Tron's, the two of them pushing against each other as they tore up the road, sparks flying. Suddenly, Tron's arm shot out and grabbed the rider around the neck, pulling him in close. The guard fought Tron's grip, slamming his helmet against Tron's. Tron leaned in further.

"And the name's Tron," he concluded.

The guard hesitated briefly and Tron released his grip and quickly shoved him, peeling away to avoid a slow moving truck that had so suddenly appeared ahead of them the guard had no time to dodge. He slammed on his brakes and skidded around the vehicle, catching the fender with his back wheel. The damaged bike squealed to a standstill beneath him and he saw the distance between himself and his target widen. Frustrated, he reached for his disk.

Tron, barely avoided the halo of light that whirred past his ear, almost glancing against his helmet. Instead he watched in horror as it sliced through the air ahead of him, wedging itself firmly into the tire of his new companion's lightcycle.

Ce didn't stand a chance as her bike wheel locked, screeching and smoking beneath her. As Tron shot past, he caught a glance of her lurching forwards as the bike twisted and slid and moments later came the crashing and smattering of voxels as they scattered across the street. He broke hard and sharply turned back, fearing the worst. A short distance away he could make out remnants of the destroyed bike, and the crumpled body of Ce, unmoving, in the path of the oncoming traffic. Without hesitation he sped back to where she lay and circled around around her, shielding her with his light ribbon, before pulling up beside her.

Behind him he could hear the traffic squealing to a halt as he leaned over her delicate frame. She was out cold, her cheek and forearms grazed in hatches of blue, but he could see she was still breathing. The ribbon of light surrounding them began to fade, exposing them to the impatient onlookers. He reached down and carefully lifted Ce's limp figure and laid her across the front of the bike. Slowly, he pushed off, and steadily resumed their journey, towards the safety of the tunnels.


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Beck was frantically scanning the communication channels when he caught a glimpse of Tron's bike, slicing through the frosty outlands, like a shooting star blazing across the sky. He breathed out a long sigh of relief.

"Finally!"

He watched until the bike disappeared beneath the hideout and he turned and walked across the cavernous room to greet his mentor.

"Somebody took the scenic route," he joked as the door slid open. "I was beginning to - " he cut himself short at the sight of Tron marching in, carrying a female program, unconscious in his arms.

"Is that how you pick up a girl?" he quipped.

Tron grunted and strode past him, up the stairs and onto the large plateau of the main lab. With his foot he pulled out a worktable and gently laid her down, her golden hair fanning out beneath her and her arm sliding limply off the surface. Beck caught up with his mentor and studied Tron's surprise cargo from over his shoulder.

"Who is she?"

Tron pressed his fingers to her cheek and checked the wounds on her face then lifted up her forearms to examine the damage.

"An innocent program. Got caught up trying to help." He paused. "She's the reason I made it back at all."

Beck raised his brow, surprised that such a delicate-looking program could have played any role in saving his master. He gazed down at her soft features, her face grazed but unmistakably pretty, and thought how out of place she seemed against the stark and sterile appearance of the hideout. It occurred to him that this was the first visitor program Tron had ever brought to the lab since he had known him; that now there was another program who shared his secret. He thought of Able and how much he missed those fleeting moments when he had someone else on the Grid who could understand what he was going through, someone who could help ease the burden of his newfound responsibility.

 _Able_. Beck felt heavy to the core. Those fleeting moments had come at such a heavy price. One that he couldn't bear to watch someone else pay - not Mara, not Zed. Not even the stranger that lay before him.

"Is she going to be alright?"

Tron lifted her shoulder and unclipped her disk. He scanned through her code.

"Looks like only minor damage. She was lucky."

He patched the worst of her injuries and gently clipped the disk back in place. Beck watched as a thin protective swath of voxels spread across the damaged skin of her wrists and forearms. He noticed too, that Tron himself carried scars, his more faded, as though they had been healing for some time.

"Were you hurt?" he asked anxiously.

Tron looked at Beck quizzically for a nano and then, as though struck by a thought, glanced down at his chest.

"I was." He turned and Beck followed him over to the large terminals at the head of the lab, eager to hear more. "It seems our friend here is a medic."

Beck instantly thought of Paige and their recent encounter. He tried to stay focused.

"A medic? Well that's a good thing, right?" he asked as he watched Tron open a shell on the big screen. "She could be useful to the Uprising."

Tron frowned as he opened a connection to the Grid's server. "I don't intend on letting that happen. She's a medic, not a fighter. It would be too easy for her to fall into Clu's hands and we don't have the resources to keep protecting her."

Beck was confused. "Why did you bring her here?"

Tron was busy, traversing the filesystem. "Right now, she knows everything about the revolution. She's had access to all the information that's on my disk. You, me, the hideout - everything that she's witnessed is now on her identity disk."

Tron's answer did little to clear up Beck's confusion.

"Then why not let her stay here, at the hideout?"

His question caused Tron to pause in his task. He knew he had his reasons, but beyond those there was a feeling in his core, one that he knew he couldn't explain to Beck. A quiet discomfort that he himself didn't fully understand.

"Because she'd be a prisoner."

Beck pondered the answer. There was still something that didn't add up. He watched as Tron entered search terms onto the command line. The prompt flashed rapidly for a nano before displaying a list of files. Suddenly Beck understood what Tron was planning. His eyes widened.

"You're going to wipe her disk?" he blurted out, alarmed. "How is that better than being a prisoner? You might as well derezz her!"

Tron shook his head. "I'm not going to delete all the data on her disk." He opened one of the files and watched the lines of code spread across the terminal. "Flynn was once able to modify one of his reformatting programs to delete small packets of data from a disk. He destroyed the program, of course; something that powerful and dangerous could cause havoc if released into the Grid. But I have access to the original program, and if I can recreate it, I could potentially target only the parts of her memory related to our encounter."

"And if you can't? What's the risk she'll lose more than just those memories - that she'll lose parts of herself?" The very thought of it made him deeply uncomfortable and it took him a nano to understand why. Able used to tell him stories about the users and that the difference between them and the basics was something called they called a "soul." But Beck hadn't been so sure they really were that different - this soul sounded like it was created from the memories, purpose and actions of users, and how was that any different from the data he carried on his identity disk? For a program, he reasoned, deleting data from an identity disc was like losing a part of the soul. Something he'd come dangerously close to losing, himself, when his disk was stolen.

Tron seemed more confident. "I won't deploy the code before thoroughly testing it," he assured him, "the risk of damage to her data will be….minimal."

Beck objected. "But shouldn't that be her choice?"

Tron was beginning to lose his patience. "There IS no choice!" he stressed. "If I can at least remove references to your identity and the location of the hideout, then we can take her somewhere to lay low for a while. Eventually she'll be free to start over. But if we don't, we'll have to detain her. Indefinitely."

Beck tried to think of another option but could only manage a sigh.

Tron looked back at him to offer a sympathetic look. "I wish there was another way, Beck."

"What if -" Beck was cut short by Tron springing to attention.

"Where is she?" he growled

Beck spun around and was greeted by the sight of the empty table; their captive nowhere to be seen. 

...

Ce was almost to the door when she was startled by a loud, gruff voice.

"Where do you think you're going?"

She flinched and turned to see Tron at the foot of the steps. He expression was dark and intimidating as he stared her down.

"No...I can't…" she choked out breathlessly as she backed away from him. "I won't..."

She cut herself short with a yelp as she bumped against Beck who had slid down silently from the platform behind her. Before he had the chance to restrain her she leaped nimbly away and grasped her lightdisk.

Beck held up his hands and tried to approached her.

"Please - we're not going to hurt you," he appealed.

Ce stayed him with a swipe of her disk. She stepped back and eyed the two programs, back and forth, fearfully.

"I'm not going to let you wipe my disk." Her voice trembled almost as much as her hands.

Beck tried once again to approach her and she shook her disk at him, trying to look as threatening as possible.

"Stay back!" she cried.

Tron didn't share Beck's patience.

"Or what..?" he challenged, stepping forwards.

Ce swung around and pointed her disk unsteadily at Tron. Her mind raced as she surveyed the scene. The exit was close, but Beck stood between her and the door. And besides, even if she did make it out, what then? All she knew was that they were somewhere in the middle of the Outlands.

As she stared across at the two warriors she suddenly began to feel quite foolish. Here she was, stood challenging Tron, the protector of the grid, and the Renegade, who had single-handedly taken on scores of Tesler's forces. She sighed and relented, lowering her disk along with her head.

"I guess I don't really have a choice," she shrugged despondently.

Ce deactivated her disk and clipped it back into place. She turned away from the exit and headed compliantly back towards the platform, silently brushing past Tron. Pausing at the top of the stairs, she turned and looked back down at him.

"I'd stop believing I'd ever get to stand in the presence of the 'great' Tron. Yet here we are." She fixed her eyes steadily on his. "I'm disappointed."

Tron flinched inwardly - the words cutting through him as sharply as any blow from a disk. He opened his mouth to protest, but found he had no response and before he could construct one, Ce had turned her back to him and headed across the platform. He gave a sidewards glance to Beck , who just shrugged and headed up the stairs after her. _It's for her own good,_ he tried to reassure himself. Sighing, he set off to join them.

By the time he reached Beck , the console was lit up with activity. Beck was checking the logs with an increasing look of concern.

"Troop activity reported in Argon square," he announced.

Tron looked up at the logs as Ce plopped herself down on the table and watched them sullenly.

"What are they doing there?"

Beck glanced across at him curiously. "Looking for you, apparently….."

Tron raised an eyebrow back at him.

"...or me, depending on how you look at it. There's been reported sightings of the Renegade in the square."

A he examined the communication logs further he started to pale and Tron reached over to place a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Well, evidently, they are not going to find either one of us there," he assured him.

Beck shook his head. "It's not just that. Along with the sightings there's reports of vandalism…..of tagging."

Tron frowned. "Your friend Mara?"

"She wanted to me to help her create a distraction or something to help you….um...the Renegade escape," Beck's face fell further, "..and I left her."

Tron demeanor softened and he nodded towards the door. "Go on. I can handle things here."

Beck didn't need any persuasion. He sprung up and started for the exit. As he passed Ce, he paused and opened his mouth as he tried to think of something encouraging to say.

"It was nice to have met you," she cut in, sadly. "I hope I get to meet you…. for the first time again".

Beck shot her a sympathetic look. "Tron may seem a little harsh - but he's usually right," he offered. "I know he wouldn't do this unless he absolutely believed it was the only choice."

He touched her arm gently and she tried to muster up a thin smile. "You'd better go help your friend."

Ce watched as Beck hurried over to the exit and slide out beyond the boundaries of the hideout as she pondered her own confinement. The terminal chirped behind her and she turned her attention back to Tron at the console, his back turned to her, framed by the view of an approaching storm through the vast windows beyond. Such a crazy cycle, she reflected. Such incredible experiences. And pretty soon she wouldn't remember any of it.

She sighed and pushed herself off the table and made her way over to Tron.

"I'm ready. Where do we begin?"


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Argon square was unusually quiet for this time of the cycle. Programs stood in hushed groups, craning their necks and scanning the buildings around them.

"There he is!" cried out one program excitedly, jumping up and pointing up at the billboards.

He was instantly knocked aside by a pair of sentries cutting a line through the crowds and across the square towards the white figure standing high above them. From around the square other troops raced to converge on his position, eliciting a fevered chatter from the crowd. The figure stood, unmoved by the commotion. Suddenly, the screen flickered brightly behind him, temporarily blinding the onlookers. As the screen dimmed it was instantly apparent that the figure had vanished.

One of the guards threw down his fists in frustration.

"Not again!"

An expectant silence returned to the square and the observers returned to their search of the skyline.

Moments later another section of the billboards across the square went dark and the Renegade's form stood out strong and clear against the black backdrop. The guards switched direction and barreled back through the congregation towards their target.

The pale light of the surrounding billboards lit up Mara's face as she peered out to admire her handiwork. She smiled from under the hood of her cape and gripped the coding tool firmly. Even Rasket couldn't have dreamed up something better, she reckoned. With just a few images from the Renegade "Wanted" signs and she had the whole of Tesler's forces running around in circles.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the abrupt whir of a lightcopter propellers beating the air above her. She pressed herself against the edge of one of the billboards and watched as two black guards floated down from the hovering aircraft and race towards the image.

 _Too close_ , she panicked momentarily and switched off the coding tool before she had the chance to switch back on the bright screen.

This time the illusion was obvious and the guards slid to a halt.

"Aargh! We're just chasing images of the Renegade!" one of the guards cried out in frustration. "He's not even here!"

"There must be someone inputting the data somehow," the other guard concluded. "We should check the maintenance panels."

The sentries turned towards Mara who snapped her head back into the shadows. She looked frantically around her looking for a way out of the corner she was in as she heard the footsteps of the troops approaching.

"I think I saw something moving over here," a guard called as they rushed passed yet another image of the Renegade.

He caught a movement out of the corner of his eye but it was too late. The image seem to peel out from the billboard and, before they could react, it grabbed both of their heads and knocked them together. The guards crumpled to the rafters in an untidy heap.

"Hiding in plain sight, " Beck chuckled as he brushed his hands together. Down below he could hear the cries of the crowd, signaling his position.

"Better get a move on if I'm going pull off this escape," he muttered as he rounded the corner.

He was unprepared for the whack he got across the head, that brought him to his knees, as he came face to face with a defiant Mara. The defiance was quickly replaced by shock as she realized just who she had dropped with the butt of her coding tool.

Beck brought his hand to his helmet and shakily rose back to his feet, only to be almost knocked down again by and exuberant Mara, who threw her arms around him.

"You're ok!" she shrieked in delight and squeezed him tightly.

Beck froze with his arms out by his side awkwardly. As happy as he was to find Mara safe, there were things he didn't want to encourage. _Boy, she sure will be disappointed if she ever discovers that it's just me under this helmet._

Mara pulled away. "I'm so sorry for hitting you," she said ruefully.

"Don't worry about that now. We need to focus on getting you back to the garage without bringing along half of Tesler's army." Beck grew serious as he rubbed his neck. He'd raced across the Outlands to her, imagining the worst. He needed to make Mara understand that it wasn't okay to take the kinds of risks she was taking.

"You put yourself in a lot of danger coming out here," he gently scolded her. "And I can't always be there to…"

From under her hood, Mara's eyes flashed fiercely. "Wait! You think you are here to rescue ME?" she asked incredulously. "You're the one that's supposed to be injured. I'M the one rescuing YOU!"

"Well isn't this sweet... " A voice purred out from behind them. "I wonder, then, who's coming to rescue the both of you?"

Mara flipped down her visor and spun around to see Paige leaning confidently, against the edge of a billboard.

"I think our conversation on who is rescuing who is going to have to wait until later," Beck muttered over to Mara as he fixed his eyes on their mutual adversary.

Paige glanced lazily over at Beck in his white suit. "Someone made a speedy recovery." She raised her eyebrow at him.

"I guess you can't keep a good program down," Beck retorted.

Paige looked him up and down.

"Who said you were good?" The hint of disappointment in her voice caught him off guard. Beck winced and was reminded of her speech earlier, but he knew down to his core that Tron wouldn't have done any more than was necessary to protect the data on his disk.

"I think your superiors have exaggerated my involvement in last cycle's encounter," he deflected cheerfully, "but thanks for the fearsome reputation, all the same. It makes my job easier."

Paige looked unmoved. "Well now, we can't have that."

She straightened herself and reached for her disk, "...though speaking of making jobs easier, how about you and your friend surrender now? Save us all the trouble."

"Sorry - too busy saving all the innocent programs you and your boss have been rounding up for deletion."

It was Paige's turn to wince, knowing exactly what he was referring to, but resisted the urge to correct him on her involvement. Certainly, with Clu breathing down the general's neck and with signs of the residents of Argon city standing up to the occupation, Tesler had been unusually relentless in "volunteering" programs for the games. But there was something else bothering her - rumors amongst the guards that Tesler had Pavel arresting suspected rebels. Prisoners that had a nasty habit of subsequently disappearing without a trace.

But she wasn't about to explain any of that to the Renegade. After all, what did she owe him, other than the cold sharp edge of her disk?

She fixed her eyes on her target and readied herself to pounce.


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Ce shifted her focus beyond the reflection of Tron, working diligently at his terminal, to the lights of Argon City twinkling below. Perched over the city she could see everything from Telser's base, to the Colosseum, and the sparkling buildings that lay between them.

"It's a nice view you have from up here," she spoke out into the quietness of the lab.

Tron looked up at her but couldn't think of a response. Instead his eyes lingered on her leaning up against the window, staring out into the grid, her silhouette encircled by the darkening skies. In the time since she'd given him access to the parameters on her disk for testing, they had said very little to each other - the initial excitement giving way to a tense silence with the departure of Beck. He wondered what she was thinking now; if she regretted helping him, if she felt betrayed.

She sensed she was being watched and turned just in time to see him look away. The large clear terminal screen gave her a reversed view of the code he was working on and of his face faintly aglow from the lights of the digits streaming across the display. She understood his reluctance to engage with her; his mind was made up and he didn't want to be convinced otherwise. Still, she doubted he was comfortable with his solution. Glumly, she returned to her study of the landscape and wondered what her new home would look like and if she would ever return to Argon. Tron City might have been the place she had called home, but Argon's charms had quickly grown on her. She couldn't imagine the same of Pergos nor Gallium.

The terminal bleeped and and the cool voice of the Grid announced the start of the test. Ce blinked back at Tron and padded over to his side, glancing first up at the output on the vast screen, then up at her captor.

"You finished the program?"

Tron nodded at her but avoided meeting her gaze.

"It'll be a little while before we know if it works"

They quietly watched a progress bar slowly inched forwards, counting down the memory blocks erased on the backup of her data files. Ce felt the flutter of anxiety in her chest and let out a long breathe. She sought to occupy her mind with other thoughts and searched her surroundings for distractions. The cool stark lines of the lab held little.

"How did you end up at the hideout?" she questioned.

It wasn't a welcomed one. Tron frowned and pursed his lips.

"You're deleting my memories anyways", she contended. "You could at least give me the brief satisfaction of knowing for now."

Tron was silent for a moment and she worried she had pressed too hard. She bit her lip nervously and tried to think of a way to change the subject. He cleared his throat and, to her surprise, began describing his account of the past; the betrayal of Clu, the loss of his team to rectification and the torture he endured from his former friend, Dyson. Ce listened intently, as he recounted his memories, talking, not to her, but to the large screen in front of them, as though he couldn't bring himself to read her reaction to his downfall. But it was when he talked about his rescue by a program named Cyrus, that his discomfort became acute, his muscles tensing, triggering a sharp ache across his back. He winced slightly and reached to grasp his shoulder.

Ce instinctively leaned in to take a look at his shoulder, but her waved her off.

"I'm fine", he snapped.

She quickly retreated and sought to recover. "What happened to Cyrus?"

Tron raised his eyebrow. "You didn't view memories of him on my disk?"

She shook her head earnestly. "I told you, I wasn't trying to pry. I just wanted to know if there was anyone else that could help us".

Something in her expression made him believe she was telling the truth. He sighed.

"I don't know what happened to him. He's out there somewhere, probably planning his revenge."

Ce's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. "Why -"

She was cut of by a warning sound from the terminal and they both turned their attention to the screen where a simulation of the disk memory blocks was displayed and chunks of data blinked out, the void spreading across the face of the disk.

"Boundary parameters exceeded. Simulation failed," alerted the Grid. "All memory data deleted."

The image of the disk flashed an angry red.

"Well, that would make for a really fresh start," said Ce wryly.

Tron grunted as he shut down the simulation and opened up the debugger. He scanned the source code looking for errors in the logic, but as far as he could discern, the program should have been working correctly. He ran through the program again, but with the same conclusion.

"There," announced Ce suddenly, pointing up at the display.

Tron turned his attention to the area of the code Ce had identified but saw nothing out of the ordinary.

"It looks fine to me."

Ce stepped up to the terminal. "It is fine," she said, "as long as you are dealing with regular data blocks. Memory blocks are indexed differently from other parts of a program's data - it allows for more relational data sets."

Tron indicated that she had his attention.

She continued, "For example, those relationships help us recall information about a particular person or place, even if that data came to us at different times or from different sources. It's also the reason why we associate some memories as negative and others as positive." She was gaining confidence now. "In fact, that's exactly what the rectification program leverages to color a program's memories and perceptions of Clu and his occupation. Of course it causes a great deal of damage in the process", she grimaced.

Tron turned and leaned against the console, folding his arms across his broad chest. "How do you know so much about rectification?"

Ce shrugged. "Many of my patients these cycles are guards. Thanks to you." She smirked. "I rarely have very much time to access their code, but I've been trying to study how the rectification process works. Maybe even find a way to reverse it."

She glanced up at him furtively, hoping that the answer would satisfy him and that he wouldn't probe any further, but he seemed deep in thought. A question of her own came to mind and hung on her lips. Tron's code ….something she had seen the night before…. she paused long enough to think the better of it. _Not without his trust_ , she concluded.

Instead she turned back to terminal. "May I?" she gestured at the console.

Tron relented and slid over to allow Ce access to the terminal. Under his watchful eye, she tweaked some of the lines and recompiled the code.

"There, that should do it," she announced, confident that the code was sound, but uneasy at the thought of bringing them one step closer to the goal. She could only hope that somehow the program would fail again.

Reluctantly, she held her breath and restarted the simulation.


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

The impact of his helmet against the beam induced a shower of sparks across his vision. Instinctively Beck twisted his head away, narrowly avoiding Paige's disk that elicited further sparking as her disk struck close to his face.

"How long did you think you could keep avoiding me, Renegade?" she snarled.

Beck responded with a swift kick to her gut, sending her reeling backwards. She gasped, momentarily winded, before grabbing some loose scaffolding and swinging it in his direction.

"So much for absence making the heart grow fonder," he ribbed and ducked out of the way as the scaffolding smashed against the billboard.

"Oh, it grew _fonder_ , alright…." she jeered, "Fonder of the thought of derezzing you!"

The billboard cracked and sent a large chunk crashing down between them. Beck sprung back from the explosion and found himself shoulder-to-shoulder with Mara. Through the dust he saw Paige positioned herself for another attack. Mara unclipped her disk.

"What do you think you're doing?" Beck hissed.

"Helping!" came the curt response.

"It would help if you would just let me handle this!" He held out his arm across her protectively as Paige lunged. "Stay back!"

He sprung out to tackle her and she dodged and turned to jab him as he passed. He went down, but not before he was able to swipe his leg at her shins, pulling her down with him, and knocking her disk from her grasp. Together they tussled on the ledge.

Mara fretted and cringed as she watched the skirmish, her disk raised, but with no steady target. Paige wrestle free an arm and managed to grab a piece of debris, slamming it across his helmet. She rolled onto him, pinning him down with her body weight and pressing her arm across his neck. He strained to turn towards Mara.

"Now would be a good time to get out of here," he grunted over to her through labored breaths. Paige turned to see Mara hesitate, then slide out of view behind the billboard, but was uninterested. The guards could deal with her. As far as she was concerned, she already had her prize within her grasp and she couldn't imagine a program, which she assumed to be the medic, being much of a threat. The irony of her own thought almost made her laugh out loud.

"Who's your friend, Renegade?" she demanded.

"Jealous?" teased Beck.

Paige grunted and tried to pry open his visor, unsuccessfully, with her free hand.

"You know, I've been trying to be _your_ friend this whole time," Beck continued.

She leaned in closely and stared into his visor, mentally superimposing the face from Ruby's disk onto his helmet, trying to imagine his face on the other side of his mask. There was something about that face and her captive's demeanor that troubled her. After many cycles of fighting the Renegade, she had become more than sure that he wasn't Tron. The effect was unsettling and she chose instead to wipe the image from her mind, and continue to see him as the faceless impersonator. That, plus she had no intention of granting him the satisfaction of acknowledging that he could be Tron.

"Save it Renegade - I've seen what you you were trying to do," she spat, "trying to set me up as a traitor."

"What?" The accusation surprised Beck, especially given their last conversation on the bridge, when he'd tried to persuade her to join the uprising. He was sure he'd made it quite clear then that he didn't want to fight her.

"I suppose you have that on good authority from the same coworkers that tried to frame you?" he asked sarcastically.

Paige grimaced. She regretted not silencing his pleas with her disk while she'd had the chance, but at the time she wasn't prepared for the encounter. Hearing how, to him, she wasn't the enemy, when they had been fighting for so long. Lomox may have had the memory on disk that showed how the Renegade had betrayed her, but it hadn't sat well with her. And why should she trust memories anymore - hadn't her own betrayed her?

It took her a split-nano to realize her focus had slipped, which was enough of an opening for Beck to flick up his hips and unseat her, pulling her down over his shoulder and rolling over to pin her down.

Paige kicked back and pulled herself to her knees, and spotted her disk. Lightening-fast she rolled over and grabbed her disk, leaping up to her feet and flinging it towards him. Beck jumped and rolled to narrowly avoid the glowing projectile, which ricocheted against a support beam and swung up in a streaking arc across the sky and back into her expectant hand.

A large screech pierced the air as the the beam buckled, then crumbled, pulling down the large screen that hung above them.

"Run!" Beck yelled to Paige as it crashed down onto the ledge causing it to shuddered and shake, large cracks opening up and down the platform. Paige had only enough time to raise her helmet, wrap her arms around a railing and ride out the deafening collision, the gathered crowds screaming and fleeing as the neon billboard toppled and fell down into the square beneath them.

The impact shot up a flare of dust and cubes that bounced of her armor and clouded her visor. As the tremors subsided she straightened up and brushed herself off, flipping back her dirty visor, and surveying the scene for signs of the white suit. She heard a groan and a clank and spun around in the direction of the sound.

The dust began to settle revealing a gaping gash in the walkway. Strong fingers grasped at its periphery as the Renegade slowly pulled himself up, his white helmet emerging from the hole, precariously high over the square below. Within a nano she was upon him, towering triumphantly above him.

Beck strained for his disk that lay just out of reach, only for it to be kicked aside. He briefly considered the drop beneath him - too high to survive a fall; too low to deploy his baton in time to avoid impact with the ground. Grimly, he realised his only way out was though Paige and he was sure she would derez him before he could even get close to pulling himself up.

"You don't want to do this, Paige," he stalled as she lifted her disk.

Paige knew that he was right. Stood above her foe, watching him struggle to hold on, the thrill of victory gave way to mix of fervor and disappointment that her chase was finally over. It was different to kill a program in the throes of self defense, than when she so clearly held the advantage.

"If I let you up, will you give your word you won't resist arrest?"

Beck frowned. He couldn't let himself be turned in to Clu and let Tron's secrets be revealed and Tron's word was worth more than the alternative. He bravely accepted his fate.

"Never!" he cried defiantly.

Paige grimaced. "Then you give me no choice!"

She reluctantly activated her disk and tensed her arm, ready for the final strike.

A piercing flash of light emanated from all the screens around them, suddenly bathing Argon square in a flood of brilliant white fluorescence . The glare blinded her and she cried out, stumbling backwards and covering her vision with her arm.

The glare dissipated almost as suddenly as it has started and, prompted by the cries of the crowds below, she squinted her eyes open at the empty hole. Paige gasped at the sight of Renegade, stood large as life in front of her and she jumped back defensively, only to catch sight of another white figure moving off to the side. She gripped her disk tightly and swung around in a panic; her mind struggling to comprehend the movement around her. Everywhere she turned she was faced with another image of the Renegade, like a giant hall of mirrors in the air.

 _The screens!_ Paige quickly sought to calm herself and looked around. All around the square, the billboards simultaneously displayed images and animations of the Renegade. She peered intently at the skyline, trying to pick out signs of the real Renegade, but there was no chance of spotting him amongst the hundreds of white figures that surrounded them. She slumped down exhausted and dejected under the realization that she could no longer sense his presence.

Just like that, the Renegade was gone.

In the square, however, the excitement was palpable amongst the throngs of basics witnessing the electric show. Far beneath Paige, Mara took one last look at the splendid spectacle above her and smiled before disappearing into the crowd.


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Pale wispy clouds hung in the dark night sky, their bellies illuminated by the lights of the city beneath them. A cool breeze whipped across the rooftops, bringing with it the scent of impending rain. Ce pressed the back against the ventilation vent and tried to make out the sounds of the guards over the deep whirring of the fan below.

The footsteps receded and she peered around the unit at the backs of the retreating soldiers. Quickly, she slipped over to the side of the building and swung her legs over dropping down to the balcony below. She felt the code in her head pound as she climbed down to street level and flattened herself against the wall, listening for signs that her presence had been detected. A bike whirred by, but otherwise the night was calm.

She crept to the opening of the alley and peered up at the tall glittering spires of Tron City. Many cycles had passed since she had laid eyes on her old home but she could still make out a few familiar landmarks, though most had fallen into the background, eclipsed by the lustrous towers of the New Order. Squinting into the distance she could barely make out the darkened Tron Tower, once a shining beacon of the Grid. Now it stood forlorn and neglected next to her old work facilities - its proud emblem extinguished from the skyline. These cycles, the city converged instead around Clu's palatial compound, an imposing structure that cast an ominous glow over the surrounding area.

She calculated her options then headed out across the road towards Tron Tower, figuring her best means of escape would be to stick to familiar territory. Certainly Tron would benefit from the same advantage, however she was sure that he knew most of the streets here like the back of his hand. The same did not apply to her.

She glanced over her shoulder as she reached the other side. If he was following her, he had done well to conceal himself, her examination yielded nothing but the pristine gleam of the streets. Quickly, she ducked back into the shadows of another alley and hastened through a gate into a dimly lit courtyard. Here the lights flickered, creating uneven shadows that darted across the walls and arbors, giving the illusion of movement around her. She fought to slow her rapid breathing and willed herself to move forwards through the eerie enclosure, trying to steady her nerves against the tricks of the light.

Not halfway across the plaza, a rustling behind her alerted her to someone, or something's, presence. The sounds echoed up around her, giving the impression that the walls of the looming buildings were whispering furiously. She swung around in a panic, her disk raised defensively; but only a dark empty corner greeted her. Now there was nothing that she could do to calm the frantic breaths that escaped her chest, nor steady her trembling body. She stood frozen, staring at the blank space in front of her until the courtyard fell silent again, then lowered her disk in relief. _Next time stick to the streets,_ she thought to herself.

She turned, face first into the dark figure stood behind her, eliciting a loud shriek from her lungs. Before she even had time to draw back her disk a firm grip secured her wrist as Tron glowered down at her. Ce slapped her free hand across her mouth to suppress the scream, her wide eyes staring back in shock. Without warning, her nerves gave out and her feelings overwhelmed her. She threw back her head and erupted into laughter.

Tron looked on in bemusement while Ce reached up and placed her hand on his shoulder for support, her body shaking uncontrollably. Her giggles bounced off the walls and panels in such a joyful melody that even Tron couldn't prevent a slight chuckle from escaping his mouth.

Presently she took a deep breath and collected herself, her cheek flushed with merriment and a little embarrassment at her outburst. She looked up as the panels around them shimmered and glowed until the sights of the city had retracted out of site and the lab came back into focus.

"Wow! I've never seen anything like this….what did you call it….holo-trainer?" She brushed the back of her hand across her moist forehead and beamed at Tron.

Her smile brought back his sense of unease in an instance. Like Beck, he found something jarring in her presence in the lab, an affirmation that there was no place for a program like her in a conflict like the one they were engaged in. And yet, in spite of all that he was putting her through, that he was about to take from her, she still managed to exude so much warmth and energy. For the first time his choice make him feel ashamed. His jaw tensed and spasmed, sending shooting pains down his neck and across his aching shoulder. He groaned and rubbed his neck.

Ce stepped towards him and held out her hand.

"Here, let me help you with that", " she offered again softly.

Tron paused and, for the first time, met her stare straight on, searching her eyes for a sign of her intent. Her cheeks burned under his scrutiny and she fought to keep her nerve steady.

"If I wanted to harm you, I had every opportunity to do so last night, " she reasoned.

Tron was unmoved. "Last night you weren't a prisoner."

Another gulf of silence consumed the lab as Ce tried to counter his response, struggling to keep her thoughts together under his intimidating stare. But her mouth went dry and the words and explanations failed her.

The nanos dragged on awkwardly until wordlessly, and without taking his eyes off her, he unclipped his disk and held it out for her. Grateful for the reprieve, she hastily took it from him and accessed the disks content and navigated to the source of his injury.

Her eyes nervously flickered from the code and back up to Tron, who studied her curiously as she worked, and she deliberately slowed her actions so that he could see exactly what she was doing. It occurred to him that most medics relied on using a code repairer to fix basic programs, yet here she was, comfortably navigating the raw code from his disk, something he hadn't seen since his last cycles with Flynn.

Ce extracted the damaged code and the swirls of glowing characters hovering over the disk collapsed back into it's halo. She handed it back with a slight but satisfied smile.

"Sorry I wasn't able to get to that before."

Tron nodded and clipped his disk between his shoulders; a welcome wave of relief permeating throughout his back.

"Where did you learn to fix code like that?" he probed.

Ce shrugged. "Just in my programming, I guess," she deflected. She stared at her feet apprehensively, waiting for his next question.

Tron was quiet for a moment. "The Grid is lucky to have such a fine medic."

Ce relaxed and smiled, raising her eyes to meet his. "Thank you," she said sweetly and for a moment she found herself unable to break away from his gaze.

The alert from the terminal startled them both.

"Simulation complete. All test parameters returned successful."

The initial jolt turned to a frantic fluttering in Ce's chest, but she bravely stepped up to the terminal and checked the variances. To her dismay, everything was nominal. In just one cycle they had successfully created a powerful weapon. One tailor made for her.

Cheeks burning, she uploaded the completed program onto a data cube and presented it to Tron. "There. Clu couldn't have written it better," she smiled sadly.

Gravely, he took the cube from her, and without uttering a word he turned and gestured. A secondary workstation rose smoothly from the ground and on plugging in the data cube, the console flickered into life, activating a column of light above it. Ce watched on despondently as he prepared the program. Finally it was time and he turned and stepped towards her.

"Your disk," he commanded simply, avoiding her eyes.

The panic rose inside of her and she found herself struggling to swallow. She'd hoped so much that when the time came she would have found the strength to be brave. If she were really honest with herself, she'd been holding out hope that Tron would still change his mind, to live up to the noble ideals she had expected from him. But now she was out of time and, to her dismay, she didn't feel ready or brave at all.

Mechanically, she unclipped her disk and held it out for him. He reached out to take it from her, but stubbornly her fingers held on, her heart reluctant to concede defeat. Stood together over her disk, Tron was forced to confront her soft silver-grey irises as bitter tears pricked at her eyes.

"I don't deserve this, Tron," she whispered before releasing her grip.

He was quick to look away again and slowly, but steadily, he returned to the workstation. With both hands he lifted the disk and placed it into the glowing energy field emanating above the console, feeling the weight lift as it floated in front of him. He stood and stared at the smooth halo between his hands and found himself thinking of what she had said earlier.

"How is this different?"

Ce looked up, surprised, confused by his question.

"Different from what?"

"You said that Clu's rectification code alters programs' memoriesy. How is this any different?"

Ce looked back down at the floor miserably, without answer.

"If I force you to do this, then I'm no better than Clu. But if I don't, then the alternative is taking away your freedom," he reasoned. "How is that any better?"

A glimmer of hope was kindled within her, until she realized that he was seeking her permission to continue.

"Let me do this for you." he implored. "I'll deliver you wherever you want and make sure that you are safe. You'll be free to start over."

She shook her head gently. "You're wrong. Freedom is not about choosing whether I end up in Pergos or Gallium... It's about choice itself." She stared out beyond the dark outlands and towards the hoards of Clu's armada, circling Argon City. "And besides; with Clu's occupation, I'm no more free out there than I am in here."

Tron fell silent and turned back towards the disk.

"It won't be much of a life," he finally protested.

Ce was gripped with a sudden feeling of certainty.

"I know." she murmured. "But it'll be the life I chose".

He stood in thought for a few nanos more, then sighed. Carefully, he pulled the disk out of the stream of light, the console shuddering back into darkness. The enormity of her situation sent flutters through her core while she watched, with both trepidation and relief, as Tron crossed the distance between them and held out her disk.

Gratefully she reached for it, but again found herself face-to-face with the protector.

"In that case," he glared intently at her, "welcome to the revolution."

Tron promptly turned and walked away leaving an unsure Ce, stood holding her disk in the middle of the vast lab. He paused and looked back over his shoulder briefly.

"Come on," he motioned. "You're going to be here a while. Might as well see what you can do".

Ce took a nano to let out the breath she had been holding in, then smiled and skipped over to join her new mentor.


	17. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Mara had ridden this route on the light rail so many times she could tell how close they were to the station just from the pattern of tremors from the pylons beneath them. She jumped to her feet and began pushing her way to the doors of the car, just in time for the locomotive to finish its descent as it glided smoothly up to the terminal. The doors slid open, sucking in a waft of damp sea air and stray specks of drizzle that caught in her cyan curls.

The plaza was normally winding down at this point in the cycle but, to her dismay, a group of soldiers paraded in the square. From afar, they resembled a swarm of gridbugs, black and red, dwarfed by the white majestic dome of Able's garage behind them. She curled up her lip in disgust and kept to the perimeter, avoiding the bright gaping opening of the main hangar in favor of the more discreet back entrance; with the added advantage that she might also get to avoid another third degree from Zed.

Poor, sweet Zed. Mara hadn't meant to keep him at such a distance these cycles, but with Clu's forces breathing down everyone's neck these days she didn't want him to follow her into trouble. Her heart softened as she remembered how he had stood by her side against Pavel, despite not having a single violent line of code in his body. He'd do anything for her and she couldn't ever let herself take advantage of that.

There was a quiet thud behind her and before she had chance to grab her disk, she spotted the soft white glow of his suit reflected in the smooth wall.

"Live close to here or just happened to be passing through?" she raised her eyebrow at the Renegade. "I can't imagine I'd be lucky enough to be visited twice in one cycle. After all, I believe I'm no use to you without my friends," she added testily.

 _She has no idea how close,_ thought Beck, and he cringed at her reference to the words he had used after they had infiltrated Tesler's ship to rescue her companions several cycles prior.

"I don't think we ever got to finish our conversation".

Mara bristled. "I won't stop fighting," she maintained, defiantly, "and, in case you hadn't noticed - this time I DID rescue you!"

Beck sighed. She was right, of course, though it pained him to concede that. Her eyes shone fiercely as she stared, proud and unafraid, back at him. She reminded Beck of himself, back when Tron had first recruited him, in fact he had said the same thing. _I won't stop fighting_. He understood the resoluteness behind those words.

Beck turned and looked out towards the plaza, watching the guards as they completed their drill exercises; a show of force to remind the basics who controlled the Grid.

"I worry about you being out there alone," he said quietly.

Mara persisted. "I wouldn't be alone if you'd just let me help you."

She eyed him nervously as he watched the troops in thought, expecting him to dig his heels in further. But Beck certainly couldn't argue with her reasoning. How had he convinced himself that she would give up the fight without him? He realized it had been his choice that had led to her fighting alone.

"You're right," he said finally, turning back to face her. "But I can't have you running around getting in my way."

Mara opened her mouth to protest again but Beck cut her off.

"We'll need to work together if we are going to take back the Grid from Clu."

A thunderbolt coarsed through Mara and she stared back at him wide-eyed. Could it really be that he asking her to join him in the uprising?

"Just hang tight for now," Beck confirmed her hopes. "I'll contact you when the time comes."

Mara could hardly contain her excitement and she grasped his hand in hers. "I won't let you down." she promised. "I…."

A loud clatter emanated from the door behind them and they heard a familiar voice cursing loudly. Mara froze for a nano.

"Oh no! Zed!" she gasped in panic and dashed over to try to block him from the door, arriving a split nano too late.

The entryway slid open and Zed popped his head out. "Hey! I thought I heard you." He looked at her quizzically. "What are you doing back here?"

Mara stammered. "I was ...umm…"

She looked back towards the Renegade, but found herself stood alone in the shadows.

Zed peered over in the same direction and tried to pick out what Mara was looking at, but could see nothing but light rail pylons and empty streets. Suddenly he remembered what he'd been looking for.

"Have you seen Beck anywhere?"

Mara's elation quickly switched to anger. "He never came back from his…whatever it was?"

Zed shook his head awkwardly.

"Urgh! Just when it seemed like he was being better about showing up to work, too," she sighed, shaking her head in disappointment.

Zed had to admit that Beck had been increasingly unreliable ever since Bodhi was derezzed, but he hated to see his friends upset with each other. "You know, I didn't check his room since ...ummm…. the last time. Maybe he's up there?" He shrugged hopefully and stepped back inside. "You coming?"

Mara nodded and followed him, looking back over the shoulder one last time before heading into the garage.

Up above, hidden against the lattice of beams that wrapped around the structure like an elaborate exoskeleton, Beck watched his friends disappear into the garage and resumed his climb. The trestles lay at an angle, in a crisscross of triangles, making for easy work and in no time at all he was at the window to his quarters.

He paused and gave himself a moment to take in the unobscured view of the shoreline of Argon and the shimmering seas beyond. How ironic, he thought, that Mara was mad at Beck again, but even more committed to the Renegade. He resolved to make it up to her by working second shift and saw it as a small price to pay to know that Tron and Mara were both safe.

Staring into the darkness of the unending ocean, he faced his own uncertainty of what lay ahead. He thought of the unexpected visitor, Ce and wondered where Tron had taken her and what uncertainties she must be facing this night in her new life, everything estranged and unfamiliar. He hoped she'd be alright. In a way, the thought reminded him of how lucky he was, still surrounded by his friends and his home. And Mara had proven that the uprising was still very much alive. Though the occupation had brought so much darkness to the Grid, not even Clu himself could extinguish the flames that fuelled the revolution.

With her, everything had changed. Now he was no longer just fighting, but leading. And though the weight of that responsibility was a heavy one, as he slid through the window and and shut out the chilly late-cycle air, he was comforted by one thought.

Now he was no longer alone.


	18. Epilogue

Epilogue

Swirls of rain swept across the vista and smattered against the glass portal of the ship's bow, melding the city lights into a fuzzy panorama. The view only served to worsen his mood, the vast expanse of unwashed chaos beneath him muddled further by the drizzle, and he longed to return to the order of his domain. But alas, Tesler's forces had failed to contain the disorder that plagued Argon like a virus. He'd deal with him - as soon as he had personally dealt with Tron.

The doors behind him slid opened and his head of security walked out onto the bridge accompanied by one of General Tesler's officers, a tall program with a gaunt face and narrow, sly eyes.

The program bowed with much flourish, his long chin almost appearing to touch the floor. Clu hid his amusement and contempt at the theatrics.

"Your Excellency," the program purred.

Dyson stepped forward.

"Commander Pavel thinks he has something of interest for us."

Pavel straightened himself and held out his offering. "I retrieved this from the safehouse," he said of the code repairer. "It's not much, but an analysis of its data may provide useful information and I would hate if this were to be…. mishandled."

Dyson took the code repairer and walked it over to Clu as Pavel waited, with bated breath, for his reaction. Clu took the instrument and examined it briefly. Without digging through the code it was difficult to tell if it had been used recently, but the officer's attempt to curry favor was unmistakeable. He wondered if he understood what a dangerous game he was playing, undermining his superior like this. Could Tesler's command be unravelling so rapidly?

"You've done good work, Commander Pavel," he spoke generously, choosing to humor the witless miscreant.

Pavels eyes glimmered with satisfaction and Clu caught in them a glimpse of his lust for power. He crossed the bridge brought his face close to his ear.

"I trust I can rely on you to keep me informed of any developments with Tesler's investigations," he murmured conspiratorially, leaning back to register the poorly concealed ebullience on his visitor's face.

"Of course, your Excellency," came the breathless response.

"Good." Clu waved for his guards. "Make sure Commander Pavel is handsomely rewarded."

Guards stepped forwards and Pavel was led out, bowing repeatedly through his departure. Only Dyson hung back.

"Do you think he can be trusted?" Clu asked of his chief security officer.

Dyson sneered at the retreating figure. "The program is a fool. I highly doubt it."

Clu gave a thin smile. "Perfect," he responded and turned to Dyson. "Never underestimate the usefulness of a fool."

Dyson raised his eyebrow but said nothing more. He had other matters he wished to raise now that they were alone.

"In the meantime our investigation has revealed the identity of the other program in Tron's company." He paused to be sure he had Clu's full attention. "She's one of ours. A scientist by the name of Ce."

Clus face lit up in recognition. He grunted and looked out of the drip-stained window, sinking down into his throne.

"Interesting," he murmured. "I had wondered when we'd hear from her again."

He pressed the tips of his fingers together and rested them against his chin thoughtfully. Dyson waited patiently for a directive, but Clu's mind seemed elsewhere, his expression betraying what Dyson could only guess was a hint of amusement.

"Should I instruct our forces to join in the search?" he asserted.

Clu sat back and stared intently at the Outlands beyond Argon City, his hand toying with baoding spheres at his side, a habit that always unsettled Dyson.

"No," he finally spoke. "Wait until the time is right."

Dyson shifted uncomfortable, unsure of what his master was asking of him.

"And then?"

Clu looked up at him knowingly, his eyes now possessing a devilish gleam.

He smiled.

"Then she'll lead us to him."


End file.
